MUAC Mt Buller training camp!

Had a FANTASTIC weekend (11-13 April) in Mt Buller with the Melb Uni Athletics Club long dist folks. It was AWESOME!! AWESOME PAINFUL MOUNTAIN RUNNING!! haha.

Friday evening
Met the gang at Melb Uni track at 6.30pm and about 20 of us headed off in 4 cars. Iylia and me jumped into Ray's car. Iylia behind, me in front and Ray driving. We were snacking on gummy snakes and i was getting sugar rush. haha. it was so funny, we (or maybe just me) were talking and laughing like crazy!! haha. i think i totally scared Ray and Iylia with my incredible retardedness and maddness. haha. We stopped by Tallarook Hotel Pub for dinner with the rest of the gang. We shared some marinara pasta and fries, chatted and all before leaving.

Drove in very dark conditions but we managed to get there safe and sound thanks to Ray. haha. We stayed in a lodge in the Sawmill Settlement at the foot of Mt Buller. Alison won a weekend stay at the lodge in a race--so accommodation was free! haha. We got there and...the place was FABULOUS!!! it was a nice cozy self-contained cottage!!! Very nicely decorated with a fireplace, kitchen, and 5 bedrooms.


The living room

I love the decorations on the walls.

I chose a room and Iylia, Ray and I bunked together. Fortunately for us, we chose the BEST room! haha it was en suite--1 master bed (mine) and a bunk bed (iylia on top and ray below). haha.
Ray and Iylia (check out his retarded expression!)

It was quite late by the time we got there so we just sat ard the living room and chatted for abit before turning in. Everyone was tired.

Saturday 12 April 2008
We were up at 8am and lazed around, drank some juice.


The guys gathered around the pool table consulting a topographical map planning our run route.
We headed out for a run session--40min fartlek in the trails. It was possibly insane. Kinda like running in the XTERRA mtb trail. haha. Super rocky and dangerous. We even had to run on wooden planks across streams! It was so rocky and overgrown and hilly that my Achilles tendon was really tight and aching! There was a section where we did some 1min hill reps as part of the fartlek and it was just insane uphill, so tough!! Halfway through everyone was drenched in sweat, face red, gasping for breath! haha. but it was a good solid workout. We finished it off with some jogging and then exercises on the lodge balcony. haha.

A cool shot of our running shoes left on the balcony as we all headed indoors for some brekky.

Then it was a scrumptious breakfast of muesli with milk, apples and banana, and some of Tom's fruit cake which he baked that morning. It was DELICIOUS!!!

2 cute and fat birds sitting on the fence of our balcony.

After a nice hot shower we played Trivia Pursuit in 3 teams of abt 4ppl. haha. i hardly knew any of the answers!! I don't understand why ppl here like trivia. they have lots of these trivia nights and games here...where u answer tough questions from different categories--science & nature, art & literature, geography, history, entertainment, sports...anyway, it was a really interesting game! haha.

We then had lunch of vege burrito. haha. wraps with vege. Very healthy! haha, but delicious as well =)
Alex making his burrito.

Morton, Dave Ulbrick (aka D2), Jasmine and Kate eating at the dining table.

I then went to join some of the guys to kick a soccer ball around the back yard.
Dave Paroissien (aka D1) and Iylia showing off their soccer skills.

I also tried my hand - i mean leg - at Footbag. played like a chaptek but with a fivestone? haha. So it's a small round bag filled with beans and u kick it to each other. haha i was hopeless at it, so i went to take a short nap before our 40min "easy" run at 3.30pm.

We drove up a lil and ran in a trail...actually it was 20min constant moderate uphill on trail then 20min downhill...haha. my legs were so tired but i felt better after that. It was awesome scenery, reminded me of the Kinglake climb i did on the bike last year.

We got back and Al had prepared a plate of gummy snakes and M&Ms for us to refuel! how thoughtful =) I hid a handful of them in my windbreaker pocket and went for a stroll with Iylia and Ray in the surroundings...they were mainly holiday lodges, quite empty since it wasn't skiing season.

We had a lil BBQ of sausages--ate them with bread and salad. Then Tom (our assigned cook/baker) whipped up RISOTTO while I was sketching Iylia and Ray's faces in Iylia's sketch book. haha it was hilarious. But most ppl could guess who the faces were, but it was funny. Iylia's ears were totally out of shape. the R ear 3x the size of the L ear. haha but it was a good start..

Tom's risotto was fantastic...but alas, there wasn't enough for a second helping! haha. after that, Iylia and I went out for some star gazing. The milky way was visible as was the Belt or Orion (i think) and the Southern Cross. It was really nice. Then we went back and all of us gathered ard the TV for Zoolander while snacking on cookies and gummies. Hilarious! haha.

After the show we just sat around and chatted randomly as ppl slowly drifted off into their respective rooms to sleep. Iylia, Ray, Matt, Tom and I sat in the living room and chatted till past midnight, while i was training my balance and stability on Tom's rubber air cushion thingy.

After that the 3 of us headed back to our room and continued chatting about famous/classic movies--which made me realise i'm a dumbass! I've never watched soooooooo many of these movies which ppl always talk abt and make reference to. e.g. The Truman show, Back to the Future, Identity, Syriana, etc. haha...then iylia suddenly fell asleep. like suddenly. so ray and i chatted until past 2am!

Sunday 13 April 2008
I was awoken at 8.30am in the morning by a loud THUD. Iylia got up, sat up and smacked his forehead on the low ceiling beam. OUCH.

I got out of bed and it was cold! So i had some tea before we drove to the summit of Mt Buller for a long run. Iylia drove Ray's car up and down Buller. We were taking turns to drive. haha. the way back's my turn. HEHE. Mt Buller's really steep and high. It took us over 30min to get to the top.

A team photo of us energetic before we started our long run in a insane insane trail!

Ray turned his ankle numerous times on the rocky and muddy uneven ground. Simon tripped and fell and rolled on the rocks. OUCH. and i tripped heavily twice, but managed to regain my balance without falling. phew.

There were some impossible uphills man, just impossibly crazy i dont even know how to describe. i just wish i'd brought along my hp to snap some pictures of the view and the trail. insanely hilly and rocky. We ran about 100mins in all, and it was TOUGH. more than half of it were long long long rocky uphills sections. haha but it's fantastic strength training! haha.

A really good workout and we had loads of fun! haha. Made it back and we stretched, snacked and snapped photos before driving back to our lodge.

D2 (Dave Ulbrick) giving me a high 5 slap. Our hands were so cold the slap really hurt! Haha.

D1 and D2 (like B1 and B2 in Bananas in Pyjamas), the jokers of the team.

Iylia and me. Sharing the love in the form of Gatorade post-workout…

Ray and I.

Someone’s good idea to look unfriendly and unhappy.

Someone’s good idea to carry me, just because they could…

We had another healthy breakfast/lunch of salad and bread/wrap and fruits, before cleaning up, packing and snapping more team photos. haha.



It was not just the floors that needed some vacuuming…

D1 and me. Love those eyes…

The White Train!

Sadly, it was time to head home... =(

But GLADLY, Ray generously allowed me to drive back!! about 250km back to Melb. haha. i drove while he sat in front and iylia behind. haha. altho they joked about my dangerous driving, etc. but i drove safely and comfortably la. and i got us all back safely to melb. along the way we snacked on more gummies and chips. haha. funny. ahh, it's so fun.

Iylia and Ray are fantastic chaps man, thanks guys!

we drove to the city and parked at Iylia's place before walking to Nandos for dinner of chicken burger with egg and fries. haha terrible. then Iylia went home and Ray dropped me off home. AHHH...what a fun weekend!!! If only there were more weekends like this!

In 2 days, I’d possibly run more hills than my entire life combined…It was a great time to mix and bond with the MUAC team. Everyone got along great, and also helped out with the meals and washing up, so it felt really good =) Fun times...